Process for polishing silver utensils.



J. UEBERSAXf PBOGESS FOR POLISHING SILVER UTENSILS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 7, 1911.

1,063,47 Patented un 3, 1913'.

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J s y a Z 1 I1 I a 1 5 74/ 6 B L9 1 E E J )INVENTIOR, J BAN UEBERSAXJSQYQMSQMUQ Attoxnej UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JEANUEBERSAX, OF CHAUX-DE-FONDS, SWITZERLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE FIRM OF'WENGER & 00., 0F DELEMONT, SWITZERLAND.

PROCESS FOR POLISHING SILVER UTENSILS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented June 3, 1913.

Application filed April 7, 1911. Serial No. 619,553.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J EAN UEBERSAX, a citizen of the Swiss Republic, andresident of Chaux de Fonds, Canton of Neuchatel, Switzerland, haveinvented a new and useful Process for Polishing Silver Utensils, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and eX act specification.

This invention relates to a process for polishing silver utensils, thatis to say, for rendering silver plates and other silver utensils fortable and culinary purposes brilliant b )olishin This rocess consists inlacing those silver utensils to be polished which are very liable to getout of shape, such for example, as teapots, plates, coffeepots,sauceboats, etc., with an aqueous soap solution, of 2 to 4 per thousandfor example and with small steel balls and small steel pins in a rotarydrum, and in causing the drum, thus charged and closed as hermeticallyas possible, to revolve for a certain time in order that, under thecombined ac.- tion of the steel balls and pins and the soapy water uponthe silver utensils, the latter may become polished, the steel balls andpins being employed in such quantities that they always completely coverthe silver utensils during the rotation of the drum for the purpose ofavoiding almost the radial displacements of the said articles andconsequently of preventing them from: getting out of shape. Consequentlythe position of each utensil to be polished relatively to thelongitudinal axis of the drum is not changed during the rotation of thislatter, the steel balls and pins effecting only a restrained and slowdisplacement along the surfaces of the utensils to be polished.

To carry out this process the rotary drum employed is preferably aprismatic drum, the body of which is formed of two parts of equal lengthremovably fitting one upon the other with an interposed elastic packing,the said two parts being provided with a connecting arrangement allowingone to be held upon the other and the smaller of the said two partsbeing of such dimensions that it comprises more than one of theperipheral faces of the drum.

In the accompanying drawing, by way of example, Figure 1 is a frontelevation and Fig. 2 a side elevation of an apparatus having tworotary-drums actuated by a common electric motor, while Figs. 3 and tshow one of the drums detached respectively in side elevation. partly insection and in transverse section.

A frame A supports the two rotary drums B, the electric motor 0, theshaft D serving to transmit the movement of the latter to the rotarydrums B and two troughs E, E enveloping the lower part of the drums.

The drums B are in the form of a prism wit-h octagonal base and areformed in two parts a, I) fitting one within the other with an elasticpacking a between them, each of the two parts a, I) being constructed ofsheets of wood, xylolith or other similar sub stance connected togetherand the assemblage of the latter is strengthened with metal strips65,41, d d 6, e. The metal strips 0?, d applied .to the ends of the drumare bent into the form of closed polygons and are forced on to the saidends so as to constitute a sort of hooping, while the metal strips 6, eare bent to simply extend over the periphery of the parts a, b of thedrum to which they are fixed by screws f. The two parts a, b of thedruln are removably held together by fingers r carried by a shaft 00provided with a handle 3 and hinged to two metal bars 8 fixed to thelower part of the drum.

One of the pivots 9 adapted to the part b and by which the rotary drumsare supported by the frame A, is provided with a pulley h. Over the twopulleys h corresponding to the two rotary drums B passes a driving band71 running over a pulley on the shaft D receiving its motion from themotor C through a strap passing over the pulleys k, Z. I

Each of the troughs E is designed to receive the contents of thecorresponding drum when the latter is emptied after an operation, and inorder to allow of separating the soapy water from the solid bodiesintroduced with it into the' drum, the said about 40 gr. of soap andwith as many steel balls of 3 mm. to 1 cm. in diameter and steel pins of0.4 to 1 mm. in thickness and 6 mm. vto 1 cm. in length as are necessaryto fill the part b of the drum and completely cover the silver articleswhich are liable easily to get out of shape, the proportion between thesteel balls and pins being about 12 kg. of pins to 100 kg. of balls. ThetWo drums of the apparatus having been thus charged, they arecaused toturn fort-he required time in order to effect the polishing of thesilver utensils under the combined action of the steel balls and pinsand the soapy water on the said articles, after which the drums areopened by separating the two partsfla and Z) from one another and theircontents are passed into the corresponding trough E in order to separatetherein the polished silver utensils from the steel balls and pins andfrom the soapy water which will flow off through the nozzle t. Duringthe rotation of the drum the silver utensils which are liable easily toget out of shape will remain always fully enveloped by the steel ballsand pins and as these balls and pins are much more mobile than the saidutensils, the latter will never become much displaced in-the radialdirection within'the drum during the rotation of the latter, and willconsequently not be subjected to deformation.

j The utensils have such relation to the polishing mass in specificgravity as to be kept approximately central of the drum in its rotation,and will neither fall to the bottom nor rise tothe top in the rotationof the drum, and hence are kept from contact with the walls of the drumand prevented from being deformed in any way. The speed of rotationvaries according to the character of the article; that is, a perfectlyround article would still remain central Whether the speed be highorlow, but an article having projections, such as a water pitcher or thelike, would be dislodged from an absolutely central position due to theirregular action upon the projecting parts, and hence the rotation isadjusted to a comparatively low speed which will not materially dislodgeany articles which it is desired to clean from the approximately normalcentral position during rotation, the drum, besides, being capable ofbeing sub-divided by transverse partitions removably adapted to its partb and serving to prevent the lateral displacement of the silver articleswhich are liable easily to get out of shape.

lVhat I claim is:

The method herein described of polishing articles, consisting insubjecting the articles to rotation While suspended Within a polishingmass, the relative specific gravity of the articles and polishing massbeing such as to maintain the articles approximately central of thepolishing medium during rotation, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 28th day of March1911, in

the presence of two subscribing witnesses JEAN UEBERSAX.

Witnesses GEORGE GIFFORD, AMAND BRAUN.

